Groceries at $6.66

She and her daughter had a cartload of groceries in front of me at the express register counter and the mother said to me, “Go ahead. You just got a few items.”

“Oh, no, no .I’m not busy,” I responded. “I gave up hurry a long time ago,”

So the short blond hair clerk started scanning the groceries for prices, and the mother anxiously looked at the dollar number totals on the register computer terminal and exclaimed, “Oh, no! That was 666. Did you see that?”

The clerk frowned, bowed her head and continued to scan the food items.

“Oh, so you know about that system too?” I asked.

“I know it was 666 on there,” she said with blinking eyes and disbelief.

“Don’t matter, as long it’s not the total at the end.” I responded. “And as long as it ain’t on your driver’s license or car license plate!” I added.

She fumbled with her purse looking for more money as the total costs increased, then she pushed some items to the back for return while picking out two $20.00 bills.

You got four days worth of groceries,” I said trying to make her feel better.

“2 days! That’s all I got!” she exclaimed.

Finished paying, she loaded the groceries into the cart and found her way to her car, on another hot and humid day under the worldly system of poverty and control in this small crime ridden town of America.

Small wrens didn’t care about the grocery store or the 666’s — but they did care about the heat as they scurried on the ground and fed under the shade of a magnolia tree.